THROUGH HER WINDOW on 18th Street in the Mission District, Ana Jones has watched Irish pubs, taquerias and produce markets come and go over the last 22 years. Now legally blind and only able to navigate her apartment with the help of a walker, her landlord has given her 60 days to move out. "I expected to die here," she whispers, but instead she must leave by Christmas. The message, as in "Brave New World," is that our elderly citizens are expendable.

Unfortunately, Jones is not alone in her situation this holiday season. There are disturbingly similar stories in Chinatown, South of Market, the Richmond and the Marina. Throughout San Francisco, long- term residents are being evicted from their homes through the Ellis Act. This forced exodus of seniors and working families is destroying the diverse cultural fabric that makes San Francisco unique.

Even as eviction protections such as Proposition G (approved by voters in November 1998) are passed by the voters, landlords continue to find new ways to evict long-term tenants paying affordable, below-market rents. The latest and most deadly loophole is the Ellis Act, which has the stated aim of allowing landlords to "get out of the rental business."

In actual practice, the Ellis Act has become the preferred strategy of real estate speculators who wish to clear buildings of low-rent paying tenants in order to reap the enormous profits that come with the sale of vacant property in the current inflated real estate market. These actions are delivering a devastating blow to long-term San Franciscans like Ana Jones, and to the diversity and heritage of our city.

According to the San Francisco Rent Stabilization and Arbitration Board, the number of Ellis Act evictions have skyrocketed from 14 in 1995 to over 664 in 1999 under Willie Brown's administration. Mayor Brown has turned a blind eye to long- range city planning priorities and allowed San Francisco to be bought and sold by short-term real estate speculators and big business. Instead of tackling the housing crisis head-on, Brown has publicly declared, "That is why I say to the people that are poverty-stricken, 'I know you love San Francisco, but you are better off living someplace where the cost of living isn't so great.' "

While it has been said that the city is unable to control the local effects of the state's Ellis Act, actually the opposite is true. The Housing Element of San Francisco's Master Plan states that the impact of the loss of affordable rental housing must be considered before any new development is approved.

Despite this edict, the city Planning Department routinely approves projects that demolish or convert rental units.

The San Francisco Tenant Council has proposed a six-point plan to address the epidemic of Ellis Act evictions, and are asking City Hall to endorse this plan.